Ramin Bahrani

IONCINEMA.com’s IONCINEPHILE of the Month feature focuses on an emerging filmmaker in American independent film. We dig into their filmmaking background and look at the nuts and bolts of that person’s upcoming feature film release. This month we feature: Goodbye Solo’s Ramin Bahrani. Top ten films list: (Click here!).

Lavallee: During your childhood…what films were important to you? Can you perhaps describe early memories you have shared among family members that are tied to specific titles or kinds of films…
Ramin Bahrani: We were not a movie-going family. My parents watch only a handful of films a year. My mom liked the James Bond films. My dad liked John Wayne. I remember watching “Terminator” when it came out on video with my brother and cousin. By high school I was watching American cinema of the 70s.

EL: During your formative years what films and filmmakers inspired you?
RB: Scorsese, Satyajit Ray, Kiarostami, Bresson, Bunuel, Hitchcock, Antonioni.

EL: At what point did you know you wanted to become a filmmaker?
RB: Freshman year of college. I studied film theory as an undergrad at Columbia University but never had formal classes in filmmaking.

EL: What was the genesis of Goodbye Solo?
RB: In short, it began with my own encounters with two strangers in the town in which I was born and raised, Winston-Salem, North Carolina: a Senegalese cab driver and an elderly man standing on the side of the road. The final element was the location of the film‘s climax, Blowing Rock. Located in the world famous Blue Ridge Mountains, Blowing Rock had been a childhood holiday destination for my family.

EL: What kind of characteristics/features were you looking for your main characters/during the casting process?
RB: Solo: someone very charming, kind, warm and humble. Someone a little lost and unhappy with his place in the world, and who might need William to focus his life. It certainly helped that coincidentally Souleymane had been a real life flight attendant for years with Air Afrique (in the film he dreams to become a flight attendant)!

William: Even though I didn’t know him, I was looking for Red West and was so happy to have found him! I saw his casting tape for 5 seconds and knew I would cast him. I needed a southerner whose hands, face, walk and talk were undeniably that of a man who had worked, lived, seen it all, and was tired. Red is amazing in this film.

Alex: smart, mature beyond her age, curious, warm and independent. Casting Diana was the first time in 3 films that I cast a supporting role before casting the lead. She was just perfect.

EL: How did you prep for the performances (was there a rehearsal process?). How did you prep for each scene (was there storyboarding involved?)
RB: The lead actor, Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane), lived with me and my brother in North Carolina for 3 months and drove a taxi with real taxi drivers and met the man who inspired his character. During these months we rehearsed with all the non-professional actors who surround him and William (Red West) in the film. Red West came ten days prior to filming and we rehearsed all the scenes with him and showed him all the locations in advance. It was a great honor and pleasure for me to work with Red West and it makes me very proud to say this is his first leading role after so many successful years as a Hollywood character actor.

I do not storyboard or do table readings. I rehearse all scenes for weeks in advance with my cinematographer, a handi-cam, the actors and whenever possible in the real locations. Then, during the actual production, we arrive prepared but open to things changing. We re-block scenes with the actors and camera, and then do on average of 20 takes, especially when the scenes are done in one shot with no coverage (which is often). 

EL: What ideas did you have for the style of the film? What inspirations (other films, location, paintings etc…) did you draw upon for the look/style, aesthetics of the film?
RB: As with my other films: stay simple. But unlike my last two films (Man Push Cart and Chop Shop) Goodbye Solo does not take place in the urban chaos of NYC; instead the locations were the sparse, southern, suburban sprawl of Winston-Salem, NC.

While the selection and use of location is very specific and important to the film, the highlighted landscape really became the faces of the two leads– until the final scenes in the mountain enshrouded by fog. It is in the finale that the film opens up and feels less tight. Solo and William are no longer trapped in the taxi, motel room, or a dark bar. The landscape opens to the two leads and also to the viewer, and by the final shot it has asserted its prominence over man.

EL: Can you discuss the collaborative process you had with cinematographer, Michael Simmonds?
RB: It is my third film with cinematographer Michael Simmonds, and he is a true collaborator from script, to casting, to editing– he even looks over all the costumes with me, including Solo’s socks! We share a knowledge and passion for the same films and have a similar vision for visual storytelling which helps unify the film(s). But Simmonds is never afraid to disagree with strong and clear reasons, and then to offer solutions or other options. Simmonds’ openness and devotion to the truth of the shot, the scene, and the film has helped make each of my films better..

EL: Can you discuss the collaborative process you had with your co-writer Bahareh Azimi?
RB: This is my second collaboration with Bahareh Azimi (Chop Shop was our first), a long-time friend an architect living in France. I told her my idea for the film in the winter of 2005, we finished the first draft before Chop Shop was made, and then to Azimi’s frustration I decided to begin the final re-write the day after Chop Shop premiered in Cannes in 2007 (instead of celebrating). The idea of humor and of Solo wanting to become a flight attendant were Azimi’s ideas and really helped to sharpen the tone of my initial treatment. Whenever Azimi and I disagree on any point in the script we will argue until one of us is convinced or a new and stronger idea develops. For example I was always certain that Solo’s step-daughter, Alex, must be in the finale of the film, that her presence would provide a life and hope in the moment of death and finality. Azimi agreed, but couldn’t understand the reasons Solo gave for bringing her. For months we argued about it until we finally arrived at Solo’s reason for his request, that he “can’t come back alone.” This was perfect, and stronger than anything we had had before. And it also provided William with a moment of grace at the end of the film.

EL: Can you discuss the collaborative process you had with sound mixer Tom Efinger?
I have had the pleasure of working with Dig It Audio and head mixer Tom Efinger, sound designer Abigail Savage on all three of my films and dialogue editor Brian Scibinico on the last two. Savage is obsessive, meticulous and a perfectionist which couldn’t suit me better. In Man Push Cart and Chop Shop, every sound effect, every car passing by, ever jack hammer, has been planned, decided upon and thought out. With Goodbye Solo, I thought things would be simpler because the locations were quiet. Instead it was harder. Because the sound effects were very sparse, we had to be even more precise in selection in order to build, capture and heighten scenes.

For the finale of Goodbye Solo at Blowing Rock, Tom Efinger had to mix together over 30 tracks of wind– so many that there were not enough tracks in his mixer to hold them! Efinger is a master of making effects, foley, ADR and music really sit within a film. He never tries to overwhelm the story, but only to enhance and support it. He practices restraint, but also knows when heightening a sound will bring a scene to another emotional level. Efinger and Dig it audio have been invaluable to all three of my films.

Roadside Attractions releases Goodbye Solo in theaters on March 27th.

Photo credits (Top and Bottom pics): Hooman Bahrani